Ancient poems were accompanied by a musical instrument called the lyre - from which we get the word "lyric". "Literature" and "poetry" are categories of our own making - so moving beyond them in a major award seems long overdue.

Ancient poems were accompanied by a musical instrument called the lyre – from which we get the word “lyric”. “Literature” and “poetry” are categories of our own making – so moving beyond them in a major award seems long overdue.

“Oh my name it is nothin’ / My age it means less / The country I come from / Is called the Midwest / I’s taught and brought up there / The laws to abide / And that land that I live in / Has God on its side.” — Bob Dylan